Spartan Sprints obstacle races are muddy 3+- mile events with 10 or more obstacles. …

From beginner trail racers and mud run participants to hardcore warriors, tough guys and marathon runners, they all come out to test themselves on the insane obstacle races!

99.9% of all people who try this event will finish …

spartanrace.com

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

It was fast, perhaps a new New Years time record.

Keep your eyes on the road, Jason.

more run photos

For the historical record, Dave Adlard won the late night poker game. I took home the Silver medal.

Here’s why you ALWAYS wear a face shield.

Andy Dec. 31st, 2011

That was a fluke shot. Right?

Here’s Andy Jan. 1st, 2012.

A paintball can suck the eyeball right out of the socket.

More paintball photos.

Jeepneys are the most popular means of public transportation in the Philippines. They were originally made from US military jeeps left over from World War II and are known for their flamboyant decoration and crowded seating. They have become a ubiquitous symbol of Philippine culture. …

I rode on top from Sagada to Banaue, Philippines. A crazy fun hour descending narrow mountain roads.

GREAT views of the famous mountain rice terraces!

Some of these are 2000-years old.

… Here’s the issue — should you tie yourself on to the roof rack? … Or take your chances jumping to safety just in case the Jeepney goes over the cliff?

I did tie myself on. But was ready at an instant to unclip in an emergency.

What’s the world record for most number of people in a Jeepney? … You don’t want to know.

More photos of my roof ride.

… The incidence of dengue fever has increased dramatically since the 1960s, with around 50–100 million people infected yearly. …

About 40% of the world’s population is vulnerable.

Sisters, gymnasts from Manila, were just recovering from bouts of Dengue fever. The first people I’d ever met who had been afflicted.

In Philippines, 300 died from it in 2008.

Here it’s most prevalent in the big cities like Manila. That species of mosquito bites day and night.

… Happily I’ve seen very few bloodsuckers in December.

There are people working on a cure. Here’s one very optimistic scenario.

Infecting Mosquitoes With Bacteria To Keep Them From Infecting Us With Dengue Fever

That’s on Co.Exist, a site dedicated to WORLD CHANGING IDEAS AND INNOVATION.

If you have to be sick, you might as well be sick in paradise.

This is Sagada. (pop. 10,930)

Boys playing basketball, girls volleyball. Christmas carols boom from the Church. A little girl plays with a kitten. Very domestic. Very rural.

In these limestone mountains almost anything will grow: cabbage, tomatoes, green pepper, potatoes, carrots, beans, and other temperate products. Coffee. Citrus, mainly lemon, lime and Valencia oranges. Strawberries and apples.

This is the coldest place in the Philippines. But I’d still call it tropical. There are exotic flowers and flowering trees everywhere.

Formerly a hippie hangout, the tourists here right now are an older, savvy crowd. French, German, Polish, Australian. I met one other Canadian. There are a number of excellent restaurants, a legacy from the hippie days.

Yoghurt House - Rosti and yoghurt

Even with my bad stomach, I got out once or twice a day for hiking and jogging.

… Departing Sagada, it feels like I’m finally starting my trip home for Christmas. Home is Parksville, B.C., this year.

… Global emissions of carbon dioxide from fossil-fuel burning jumped by the largest amount on record last year, upending the notion that the brief decline during the recession might persist through the recovery. …

NYTimes – Carbon Emissions Show Biggest Jump Ever Recorded

Surprisingly, China is suddenly ready to commit to binding cuts.

… Speaking to reporters Monday, the country’s chief negotiator in Durban, Xie Zhenhua, said major economies including China should be legally obligated to curb greenhouse gas emissions after 2020.

“We accept a legally binding arrangement,” he said.

Mr. Xie, however, said China would agree to binding cuts only if the U.S. and other powerful nations take aggressive steps in the next decade to address climate change …

Chinese Overture Jolts Climate Talks

I heard the same thing in Hong Kong from a consultant to the Chinese government — they are serious.

Personally, I think, even with China on side, international treaties are not going to work. We’d be better to put the money into researching new technologies to remove Greenhouse Gases from the atmosphere (“sinks”).

In general, voluntary efforts to reduce Carbon Footprint are a good thing. Let’s encourage those efforts, too.

(via Freakonomics – Worldwide Carbon Emissions No Longer Dropping — Is Anyone Surprised?)

Bulabog Beach is the main windsurfing and kiteboarding area, one of the best in the world.

kiteboarding superstar Susi Mai

Kiteboarding (or kitesurfing) has been described as combining wakeboarding, windsurfing, surfing, paragliding, and gymnastics into one extreme sport. …

There were 50 kites out for every Windsurfer today.

Click PLAY or see how it looks from above on YouTube.

A one day introductory course costs about a hundred dollars in Boracay. Know that you can easily drown, tangle, collide or be blown into palm trees in one of those flimsy rigs.

I’ll jog the beach instead.

I agree with the outspoken Rex.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

What percentage of delegates in Durban would I call hypocrites? … More than half, I reckon.

(via CBC)

The endless cycles of Earth’s warming and cooling.

Has man or cow accelerated the rate of warming? … I’m not sure.

But I am sure that man nor cow will be doing much to reverse that damage any time soon.

An opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal explains why not much is going to be decided in Durban, South Africa next week:

The Great Global Warming Fizzle

… On Sunday, 2,232 days will have elapsed since a category 3 hurricane made landfall in the U.S., the longest period in more than a century that the U.S. has been spared a devastating storm. …